Profile

PINKERTON, Robert
(Service number 55621)

Aliases
First Rank Corporal Last Rank Rifleman

Birth

Date 23/10/1879 Place of Birth Northampton United Kingdom

Enlistment Information

Date 26 April 1917 Age 38
Address at Enlistment Fairlie, New Zealand
Occupation Farmer
Previous Military Experience Served in Boer War SA 1901-1904
Marital Status Married (2 Oct 1910)
Next of Kin Wife, Sarah Daisy Pinkerton nee Dabinett
Religion Presbyterian
Medical Information No issues

Military Service

Served with NZ Armed Forces Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation NZ Rifle Brigade
Unit, Squadron, or Ship Reinforcements G Company
Date 15 August 1917
Transport HMNZT 92 Ruahine
Embarked From Wellington, New Zealand Destination Glasgow
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With NZ Rifle Brigade

Military Awards

Campaigns Boer War
Service Medals South African Medal (Cape Colony, Transvaal, and South Africa 1902 c;asps); Victory Medal, British War Medal
Military Awards

Award Circumstances and Date

No information

Prisoner of War Information

Date of Capture
Where Captured and by Whom
Actions Prior to Capture
PoW Serial Number
PoW Camps
Days Interned
Liberation Date

Discharge

Date Reason

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date 27 March 1918 Age 38
Place of Death France
Cause Killed in action by sniper
Notices Death notice Timaru Herald 10 July 1918. Full description provided from a letter received detailing how Robert died.Letter found in will
Memorial or Cemetery Mailly Wood Cemetery, Mailly-Maillet
Memorial Reference Special Memorial at north end of Row Q, Plot 11
New Zealand Memorials On Memorial wall, Timaru, Fairlie War memorial

Biographical Notes

Robert, born on 23 October 1879, was the son of Robert John and Mary Pinkerton (nee Gray) of Northumberland, England. Robert (jnr) emigrated to NZ on the "Kaikoura" arriving at Wellington 31 December 1890. He joined his brother, George Pinkerton, who had emigrated to NZ on the "Arawa" which arrived Wellington on 16 December 1889. George became a well knownstock agent in Fairlie. Robert appears to have folowed a similar career path with farming, as he was a shepherd for H McLean of Fairlie in 1902, when he voluteered for the South African War. Serving as a trooper with the South Island Regiment of the 8th Contingent, Robert earnt the King's South African Medal with clasps for the Cape Colony, Transvaal, and South Africa 1902.

Robert married Sarah Daisy Dabnett on 3 June 1910 and had a son, Kenneth, in 1913.

Robert enlisted for service in World War One at Timaru on 26 April 1917. At the time he was farming in Fairlie on his own behalf on Mt Cook Road, just out of the township itself. He emarked on 15 August on the HMNZT 92 (Ruahine). Seven months later Robert was killed while serving at the Somme.

Robert's wife Daisy never remarried and died in Dunedin in 1969.

Sources

Auckland Cenotaph, CWGC, Historical BMD, PapersPast, NZ Archives War record

External Links

Related Documents

Researched and Written by

Liz Shea (SC branch NZSG)

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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